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Aibo Quickstart ManualInternal Report, v 1.2

Ricardo A. Tllez

Agents Research LabUniversitat de Girona

August 31, 2004

Contents

1 Introduction 2

2 Installing the OPEN-R SDK on the PC 3

3 Installing the Memory Stick Reader/Writer 3

4 Installing the OPEN-R base system on a memory stick 5

5 Setting the Wireless Network 5

6 Brief OPEN-R SDK Description 7

7 Other Aibo Programming Environments 8

8 Tips and Tricks 8

9 Interesting Links 9

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1. Introduction

Development with Aibo is possible using the OPEN-R SDE. The OPEN-R SDE is a set of toolsreleased by Sony for the development of programs for Aibo. It is composed by the OPEN-R SDK,the R-Code SDK, the Aibo Remote Framework and the Aibo Motion Editor. This documentdescribes how to set up a research environment with an Aibo robot for the use of those tools, but it

does not includes instructions about how to use the tools or how to program the robot. For thoseother purposes you can consult the official documentation or the other documents released by thesame author of this document1.

Aibo can be programmed by using the scripting language R-Code or the C++ environment providedby OPEN-R, but when using Aibo for complex control only the second option is used. Because ofthat, this document will focus on the creation of a development environment for the OPEN-R.OPEN-R is composed of libraries and sample programs that allow a complete control over the Aibohardware using a C++ environment. Even that this development kit is mainly targeted to a Linuxplatform, it is also possible to use it on Windows platforms by installing the Cygwin application.The usual procedure to work with Aibo is the following: a program is created on the computer using

OPEN-R and C++. This program is then cross-compiled to target the Aibo platform. Then theresulting binaries are transferred from the PC to a memory stick. The memory stick is then insertedonto Aibo.

To set up all the required environment, it will be necessary to install first the OPEN-R SDK on thePC. Then a installation on the PC of a memory stick reader/writer will also be necessary in order totransfer programs from the computer to the memory stick. Once the PC is able to use the memorystick reader/writer, it will be necessary to prepare a memory stick with the OPEN-R base system.The last step will be to configure the wireless network for communication between the PC andAibo.

The used environment for the development of experiments with Aibo was composed of an AiboERS-220a equipped with a wireless LAN card, a computer running Windows XP and a wirelessaccess point connected to the computer. A second environment was also proved to work perfectly,consisting of the new Aibo ERS-7 (which has a built in wireless card) and a Linux computerequipped with a wireless LAN card, working in Ad-hoc mode.

Figure 1: The Aibo ERS-220a and ERS-7 models

1 For a description of the R-Code language read theR-Code SDK Tutorial. For a description of OPEN-R readOPEN-R Essentials both available at http://www.ouroboros.org/~rt71592

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2. Installing the OPEN-R SDK on the PC

When starting to work with Aibo, the first thing to do is to visit the OPEN-R web page(http://openr.aibo.com) and download all the information and programs required. When accessingthe page for the first time a registration will be required (a free one, though). After having theaccess code, the download section will give access to all the programs and documentation related to

the SDE.

Download the following files for any operating system:

OPEN-R SDK Documents English

OPEN-R SDK for ERS-7/ERS-200 series

Sample programs

If you are working with a Windows machine also download:

Cygwin binaries

MIPS cross-development tools for Cygwin

Download the following files if you are using a Linux machine:gcc source files

binutils source files

newlib source files

Shell script for building cross development tools

At this point, you should first decompress the OPEN-R SDK Documentation package and startreading the Installation Guide document. This document will guide you on how to install theOPEN-R SDK under Windows or Linux, and it is very straight forward. The installation of theOPEN-R SDK onto your PC will allow you to use the OPEN-R libraries to create your Aiboprograms, and also to cross-compile those programs generating Aibo binaries.

Special mention is required for the installation of Remote Processing OPEN-R. This is an additionalpackage of OPEN-R that allows a computer to run some of the Aibo processes when the wholeprocessing load is very high to be executed on Aibo itself. It allows the split of programs betweenAibo and a computer host. To install this extra package just go to the

/usr/local/OPEN_R_SDK/RP_OPEN_R/bin directory and execute the setup-rp-openrscript. Do not install the package if you do not plan to use it.

3. Installing the Memory Stick Reader/Writer

Installing the memory stick under Windows is very straightforward and has no problem at all. Just plug the USB into thecomputer and play. Windows XP comes already with therequired drivers. For other versions of Windows, the drivermay be required. Just use the CD provided with thereader/writer.

Installation under Linux is a little more complicated. Youwill need to have your kernel compiled with support forUSB. Also you should include SCSI emulation and the usb-storage module. Once this has been done you should follow

the instructions given at the OPEN-R BBS (posted bellow)

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Figure 2: The memory stick reader/writer


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How to access Sony AIBO Memorystick using Dazzle USB Memorystick Reader underLinux.

Yu Wang ([email protected])

INTRODUCTIONDazzle Memorystick Reader allows people access information of a memorystickmedia, which is mainly produced by Sony, via USB port. This documentation showssimple steps of accessing the Sony AIBO Memorystick using this read under Linuxoperation environment.

It is tested in Redhat 9 on Acer Travelmate 332t laptop computer. The kernelversion is 2.4.20-8.

MOUNTING THE MEMORYSTICKIt is recommended to plug the usb reader into the USB port before turn on thepower of the computer, although most of the linux distributions support hotplugtechnology for USB devices. Make sure the Sony AIBO Memorystick is correctlyplugged into the usb reader.

After log into the bash shell, make sure that the usb reader is recognized bythe system. You can check it by typing:

$ cat /proc/bus/usb/devices | grep S:

and you will probably see something like this:

S: Product=USB OHCI Root HubS: SerialNumber=ccacb000S: Manufacturer=SCM Microsystems Inc.S: Product=eUSB MemoryStick ReaderS: SerialNumber=0000000011CF

Now we can mount the memorystick into the system by the following steps:

1. Create a empty directory to which be mounted, ex. /mnt/usb:$ mkdir /mnt/usb

2. And then mount the memorystick (You must have supervisor privilege first)$ mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb

USING THE MEMORYSTICK

After mount the memorystick to the specified directory(/mnt/usb), you can use

it just like other storage device, such as hard drive. Most of the file system

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command, such as ls, mkdir, cat, etc., can be applied.

When you "ls" the memorystick for the first time, you will find a file namesmemstick.ind already existing in the memorystick. DO NOT delete it, since thismemorystick is to be used by the Sony AIBO robotic dog

4. Installing the OPEN-R base system on a memory stick

In order to be able to use a memory stick into Aibo and toaccommodate your program, a basic system (Aibo's operatingsystem) must be loaded into an empty one. Once the stick isprepared with that basic system, you will be able to set up thewireless network and transfer your program to it.The preparation of the stick is a simple process: just copy some files

provided by the OPEN-R SDK into an empty stick. Those files arethe operating system of the robot. Three possible options of the

operating system are possible:Basic, is a version of the operating system with all its capabilities butwithout wireless LAN environment; Wlan, with a wireless environment but no wireless console;Wconsole, with wireless environment and console (more about the console on section 8). On top ofthat, you must choose between an operating system with memory protection (memprot) where theoperating system implements some control on memory accessing to prevent errors, or without it(nomemprot). You can find more information about it on chapter 4 of the Programmer's Guide.

Following your previous selection, copy the following directory into the root of the memory stick:For Basic environment with memory protection:

/usr/local/OPEN_R_SDK/OPEN_R/MS_ERS72/BASIC/memprot/OPEN-R

For Basic environment without memory protection:

/usr/local/OPEN_R_SDK/OPEN_R/MS_ERS7/BASIC/nomemprot/OPEN-R

For Wlan environment with memory protection:/usr/local/OPEN_R_SDK/OPEN_R/MS_ERS7/WLAN/memprot/OPEN-R

For Wlan environment without memory protection:

/usr/local/OPEN_R_SDK/OPEN_R/MS_ERS7/WLAN/nomemprot/OPEN-R

For Wconsole environment with memory protection:

/usr/local/OPEN_R_SDK/OPEN_R/MS_ERS7/WCONSOLE/memprot/OPEN-R

For Wconsole environment without memory protection:

/usr/local/OPEN_R_SDK/OPEN_R/MS_ERS7/WCONSOLE/nomemprot/OPEN-R

5. Setting up the Wireless Network

The wireless LAN network is not necessary in all cases, but it definitely will improve design speedby allowing direct transfer of new programs from the PC to the Aibo memory stick without havingto take the stick out of Aibo. The wireless network can also allow more specialized experiments ofremote monitoring and control of the Aibo pet.

Depending on the parts you have purchased, you can establish a wireless LAN by using an accesspoint or by using just a simple wireless card on a PC.

Note: In all the configuration cases, it has been taken the 192.168.10.x network by default. This canbe easily changed by specifying another network in the configuration files explained. Just be

2 This path presumes the use of a ERS-7 model. For other Aibo models, change the ERS7 for ERS200

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Figure 3: A memory stick


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consistent with all the configurations to use the same network.

5.1.Communication through an Access Point (AP)

In this case the PC is connected to an AP through an ethernet cable. The AP connects via wirelesswith Aibo. This is called managedmode. In this case, the PC communicates with Aibo via the AP

which is acting like a gateway. Things to set up are the PC, the AP and the Aibo wireless card.

5.1.1.Configuration of the Access Point

You must set the following parameters on the AP. Configuration of the AP depends on the modelpurchased, but most of them allow web based configuration. Check the AP instructions for that.

ESSID: AIBONETWEP key: AIBO2Wireless channel: any between 1 and 11IP address: 192.168.10.1Netmask: 255.255.255.0

Operation mode: router

5.1.2.Configuration of the PC

You can configure the PC using the typical Control Panel under Windows or the ifconfigcommand under Linux.

IP address: 192.168.10.2 (or any available in the same range)Netmask: 255.255.255.0Gateway: 192.168.10.1

5.1.3.Configuration of the Aibo wireless card

Wireless configuration of Aibo requires to modify a special file included in one directory of thememory stick. You should skip this step until you understand how the memory stick works. Forthis, you should read the Programmer's Guide document and section 4 of this document.

The wireless configuration file is OPEN-R\SYSTEM\CONF\WLANDFLT.TXTfound in thedirectory structure of the memory stick. If you edit this file you will see easily how to configure the

robot for wireless communication. Please, use the following data to configure accordingly with theAP and the PC:

HOSTNAME=AIBO

ETHER_IP=192.168.10.100ETHER_NETMASK=255.255.255.0IP_GATEWAY=192.168.10.1ESSID=AIBONETWEPENABLE=1WEPKEY=AIBO2APMODE=2 # this mode indicates auto-modeCHANNEL=3#DNS_SERVER_1=10.0.1.1#DNS_SERVER_2=10.0.1.2#DNS_SERVER_3=10.0.1.3

#DNS_DEFDNAME=example.net

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Hint: the auto-mode of Aibo allows it to boot the wireless network on managed or ad-hoc mode,depending on the detection or not of a nearby AP. This means that, when Aibo is booting, if itdetects an AP, it will boot in managedmode. Otherwise, it will boot in ad-hoc mode.

5.2.Communication without Acces Point

In this case, the PC communicates with Aibo directly by using a wireless LAN card. This is calledad-hoc mode. You should configure the PC wireless card and the Aibo wireless card.

5.2.1.Configuration of the PC

Use Control Panel under Windows, or ifconfig/iwconfig under Linux, to configure the wirelesscard with the following parameters:

ESSID: AIBONETWEP Key: AIBO2Wireless Channel: any between 1 and 11

IP address: 192.168.10.2 (or any available in the same range)Netmask: 255.255.255.0Communication mode: ad-hoc (also called Peer-to-Peer)

5.2.2.Configuration of the Aibo wireless card

Do the same as explained in 5.1.3.

6. Brief OPEN-R SDK Description

As shown in section 2, the SDK is mainly composed of a set of C++ libraries, some documentation

files and a set of sample programs. Apart from reading the Programmer's Guide and the Level2Reference Guide, sample programs are the best way to learn about OPEN-R. Sony doesn't have anyspecific OPEN-R programming tutorial but you will find a very good one at ENSTA (http://www.ensta.fr/~baillie/openr_tutorial.html) created by Jean-Christophe Baillie and FranoisSerra. You can also find a similar tutorial by the author of this document athttp://www.ouroboros.org/~rt71592

The procedure to run a program on Aibo is as follows: having an empty memory stick, you firstcopy to it Aibo's operating system. Then you go to the directory in your PC that contains theprogram you want to run on Aibo and generate the binary files (cross-compilation). Next, you mustmodify the wireless LAN settings if necessary. Last, you copy the generated binaries into the

memory stick, and plug it into Aibo.

The best way to start is to test this procedure with one of the sample programs. To compile andinstall any of the sample programs do always the same: go to the directory in your PC that containsthe program (for example, I would like to compile the HelloWord sample program, and Iuncompressed the sample programs under the /usr/local/sample_programs/ directory) and typemake install. This will create the binary files and place them into the/usr/local/sample_programs/HelloWord/MS/OPEN-R/MW/OBJS/ directory. Thentransfer the contents of/usr/local/sample_programs/HelloWord/MS/OPEN-Rdirectoryto the memory stick (this transfer process must not replace the existing directory, but to merge withthe existing files. This means, do not replace one directory for the other, but overwrite common

files). If you want to modify the wireless settings, do it in the /OPEN-

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R/SYSTEM/CONF/wlanconf.txtfile of the memory stick.

Any OPEN-R program on Aibo is composed of objects running concurrently. When you create aprogram for the robot, you must create all the required objects for your control program. Thoseobjects will run independently one of the others, but will communicate between them throughconnections in order to behave coordinately. Most of the sample programs are already valid objects

for your own programs, so it is a good idea to start creating your programs by modifying theexisting sample ones.Note: you can use Remote Processing OPEN-R to execute some of the objects on a PC and the restof object on Aibo, sharing in this way the CPU load that has to support Aibo's processor (for moreinformation on this see the Programmer's Guide).

7. Other Aibo Programming Environments

Apart from using OPEN-R to program the robot, you can use other higher level programmingenvironment created by third parts. I would mainly comment the following two:

The Tekkotsu environment (http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~tekkotsu/index.html)Created at the Carnegie Mellon University, it provides a programming framework built on top ofOPEN-R. It allows the programmer to easily access and control any of the sensors/actuators of therobot. It also provides powerful processing tools combined with other programs like Matlab forimage processing. Everything is Open Source and you can download it for free.This environment also provides similar tools to those of Sony commercial packages like Navigatorfor free.Main environment is Linux but it can be run under Windows using Cygwin (some bugs reported).

Yart/RCodePlus (http://www.aibohack.com/rcode/index.html)

This is an environment built on top of the Rcode of Sony, that allows the easy creation of behaviors

on Aibo by using a scripting language that boosts the power of the original Rcode. It is easy to useand program but functionality is limited by its easiness. However, it contains some interesting toolsadded, like remote control of Aibo, wireless consoles, etz.

8.Tips and Tricks

8.1.Printing to the wireless console

If you install in the memory stick the operating system version that has a wireless console (seeProgramer's Guide), then you can telnet Aibo from a PC for monitoring and debugging purposes.

Connection is accomplished by telnetting at the 59000 port of Aibo:> telnet Aibo_IP 59000

You can include debugging messages in your Aibo code to appear in the telnet console. Theallowed calls for messages are OSYSPRINT() and OSYSDEBUG(). The first one will print alwaysthe message indicated. The second one will only print on console the message if the debug flag wasset during compilation.

8.2.Using the FTP server to transfer a program to AIBO without using the memorystick reader/writer

You can avoid the extraction and insertion process of the memory stick anytime you want to change

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Aibo's program, by using an FTP server. The FTP server is an Aibo program provided by Sony onthe samples directory, called TinyFTPD, that allows direct transfer of any new program from thePC to the Aibo memory stick, when the stick is in Aibo. It uses FTP protocol, so any typical FTPclient can be used on the PC to transfer the files.

To use that program, you must first compile it and install it onto the memory stick. So, you must go

to the TinyFTPD directory (samples/TinyFTPD/) and do make install. Then you will have tocopy the generated object samples/TinyFTPD/MS/OPEN-R/MW/OBJS/TINYFTPD.BIN to the /OPEN_R/MW/OBJS/ directory of the memorystick.

Next, you must add a line containing /OPEN-R/MW/OBJS/TINYFTPD.BIN to the file/OPEN-R/MW/CONF/OBJECT.CFG(of the memory stick).Last, add the file samples/TinyFTPD/MS/OPEN-R/MW/CONF/PASSWD to the/OPEN-R/MW/CONF/ directory of the memory stick.

When Aibo is running this new program, it will be possible to access Aibo's memory stick using

any FTP client on the PC. Just type ftp AIBO_IP. The server will answer requesting a username

and a password, where you can answer anonymous on both cases.

Once connected you can use the typical FTP commands to transfer, delete and copy new files to theAibo memory stick. If you upload a new program to Aibo and what to reboot it, just type the

following FTP command: quote rebt.

Notes:

Remember to assign writing privileges to the configuration files OBJECT.CFG ,

CONNECT.CFG, etc, otherwise, the FTP commands will not be able to overwrite the files.

Be careful when rebooting Aibo, since if it is standing up, on rebooting it will fall down

causing severe damages !!

8.3.Hints

To have a good overview of Aibo's capabilities, including physical limits, return values of

sensors and output devices, consult the documentModel Information for ERS-xxx

Use OSYSPRINT for debugging on a wireless console environment.

Execute make clean after any modification in any of the *.h files, since it can clear someuntraceable segmentation faulterrors.

It has to be taken into account that Aibo's MIPS processor is little-endian when transferring data

to/from systems working in big-endian mode.

9. Interesting Links

Apart from the well known page of the OPEN-R SDK (http://openr.aibo.com) there are just a fewgood web pages related to the insights of Aibo. Nevertheless hundreds of pages can be found withno interest for research. Only the first type of pages are listed here:

OPEN-R SDK Tutorial at ENSTA: a very good tutorial about OPEN-R available on the network

http://www.ensta.fr/~baillie/openr_tutorial.html

OPEN-R Essentials: another tutorial about OPEN-R based on the previous onehttp://www.ouroboros.org/~rt71592

R-Code SDK Tutorial: the first tutorial on the net about R-Code programming

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http://www.ouroboros.org/~rt71592

Sony OPEN-R SDK school: 6 powerpoint tutorials describing some of the sample programs

http://openr.aibo.com/ (OPEN-R SDK University section of the registered area)Aibo Hack: a web site with lots of hacks for Aibo

http://www.aibohack.com

Aibo life bot house: an interesting forum where to learn and ask about Aibo, including technical

detailshttp://www.aibo-life.org/

Dogsbody net: good extension programs for Aibo

http://www.dogsbodynet.com/

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